Wood Chips vs Wood Pellets – What’s the cost?

On the face of it, looking at price per tonne, wood chips appear to win hands down.

A tonne of wood chip at 30% moisture content will set you back £80-£90, while a tonne of wood pellets will be around £195 per tonne.

However, a tonne of wood pellets contains more energy than a tonne of chips.

The key figure to look at is the price per kWh of heat…

When you do that the differential is reduced – with 30%mc wood chips at £90 per tonne giving heat at 2.6p per kWh, while pellets at £195 per tonne provide heat at 4p per kWh.

But significant savings can be made regardless of which biomass fuel you choose and the basic fuel cost should not be the key deciding factor; for more guidance see the related posts section below or head over to this blog’s categories homepage.

To see how chips and pellets compare to oil, gas and electricity check out the Biomass Energy Centre.